Tech giant IBM has been researching emerging technologies for quite some time now, and it recently announced a new trial service for Fully Homomorphic Encryption, or FHE. According to what is known, the new privacy tech will be able to vastly reduce the chances of sensitive data being exposed.
IBM to bring the holy grail of encryption
Encryption is everywhere these days, as the need for privacy becomes direr and direr. Meanwhile, different forms of surveillance, data theft, and other privacy invasions are threatening private individuals and companies alike.
Now, when it comes to FHE — it is an emerging technology. However, it is also technology that has often been described as the holy grail of encryption. It is designed to allow data to stay fully encrypted, even as it is being processed or analyzed in 3rd party environments, clouds, and alike.
IBM has been hinting at this technology for a while now. Only recently, it said that its new service will allow clients to experiment with technology in order to improve their internal architectures’ privacy.
The problem with existing encrypting practices
The company commented that current encryption techniques can be used for protecting data while it is in transit, or as it simply sits in storage. However, in order to be analyzed, it must first be decrypted, and that is when it becomes vulnerable.
This is a window of opportunity for anyone who wishes to steal the information, and the firm was looking into preventing it, which led to the development of FHE.
Now, data leaks are not particularly rare — not these days. In fact, they have grown to become a major issue. Only a few months ago, hardware wallet provider, Ledger, got hacked, and the attackers stole a massive portion of data, which was then published on a hacking forum, available to the public.
While right now, there are less than 1% of businesses budgeting for programs requiring FHE, one research predicts that this percentage will go to 20% in less than five years.
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